Ghana invites investment from Indian power companies

New Delhi: Ghana has invited Indian power companies to invest in setting up thermal and renewable power projects towards becoming power surplus in the next five years.

“A high-powered delegation led by Kwame Ampofo, chairman, Energy Commission of Ghana met the power industry leaders here today (Thursday) at the global launch of Powerelec Ghana 2016, an Indo-Ghanian platform created by Fairact Exhibitions and Events, Orange, Ghana and Verifair, Dubai, which will be hosted at Accra, Ghana in May 2016,” said a release by the platform’s organisers.

“Ghana has announced an ambitious programme of adding new power generation capacity of 3,665 MW over the next five years, thereby more than doubling the amount of existing capacity,” the statement said.

“Ghana has been recognized by the World Bank’s Doing Business Report of 2014 as the “Best Place for Doing Business in the ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) region,” it added.

“The Chinese companies are already there and we want Indian power companies to explore the possibility to invest and reap the benefits. India must not wait for China to takeover. I will be happy if India shows interest,” Ampofo said at the event.

Bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $1.2 billion in the fiscal 2013-14.

India’s Exim Bank has released a report documenting the manifold jump in trade in recent years between India and the 15-member ECOWAS.

India’s two-way trade with ECOWAS has seen a 12-fold increase from $1.9 billion in 2004 to $22.7 billion, the report, Enhancing Trade Relations with ECOWAS, says.

“While India’s total exports to ECOWAS have risen six-fold to $7 billion in 2013, India’s total imports from ECOWAS have risen 23-fold to $15.7 billion,” Exim Bank said.

“As a result, India’s trade balance with ECOWAS has turned negative in recent years, primarily due to the large and rising volume of crude petroleum imports,” the report added.

Jerry Rawlings, former President of Ghana is worried about country's increasing population. Wikimedia commons.

Lead: According to news now Ghana, there is a huge possibility of problems related to national security arising if there is no control over the population rate in the country. What led to an increase in the current population to 29.6 million? And what are the troubles the youth of Ghana needs to face? To know more have a quick glance through this article.

Ghana’s rise in population

Jerry Rawlings, the former president of Ghana, gave a hint on the recent rise in Ghana’s population, which in turn could increase tension and security problem in the country.

In the year 2016, Ghana’s population drastically increased to 29 million from 24 million which is certainly not a favorable trend.

Jerry Rawlings said that “It will be a serious source of tension permanently in this society”

David Kombat who is the chief statistician at the Ghana Statistical Service said that at present Ghana has a total population of 29.6 million which was around 24.6 million in the year 2010.

Ghana Population Pyramid. Wikimedia commons

In an interview with the Ghanaian Times newspaper, David Kombat said that out of the total population, half of the population consists of young blood, whose age lies between 1 and 29 years. He also mentioned that some immediate measures should be taken in order to deal with the challenges which are faced by the youth in the country.

Reports collected by Ghana news now – YEN suggest that, with the rise in Ghana’s population there is a scarcity of jobs, and the main challenges are faced by the youth population of Ghana. President of Ghana, Akufo- Addo earlier said that the unemployment trend in our country is a national security issue.

As per Ghana Aids commission, the number of HIV patients has increased over the past years as well. David Kombat, the Chief Statistician of Ghana, has expressed his views to improve the education quality along with healthcare, which includes reproductive health and the need for woman empowerment. In addition, entrepreneurial skills to improve the economic productivity.